View full sizeEric Schultz / The Huntsville TimesAmy Bishop looks back in the courtroom during her preliminary hearing Tuesday. Her attorney, Roy Miller, sits next to her.

HUNTSVILLE, AL. -- A Madison County district judge ruled this morning that accused UAH shooter Amy Bishop should be kept in custody and her case handed over to a grand jury to consider a capital murder charge against her.

The ruling by Judge Ruth Ann Hall followed a 25-minute preliminary hearing that featured testimony by Huntsville police investigator Charlie Gray. Gray described the investigation into the Feb. 12 shooting rampage at the University of Alabama in Huntsville that left three dead and three wounded.

Gray said the 9mm pistol recovered after the shooting was purchased in 1989 in New Hampshire by a New Hampshire resident on behalf of Bishop's husband Jim Anderson. Gray said federal investigators intereviewed the man who told them Anderson wanted the gun because of an ongoing dispute with a neighbor. New Hampshire does not have a waiting period for handgun purchases. Massachusetts, where Anderson was living at the time, had a waiting period, Gray said. Bishop and Anderson were married in 1989.

Bishop did not show any reaction to the testimony about the shooting. Gray said during a two-hour interview with Bishop following the shooting, she appeared to understand the questions but stressed that the shooting didn't happen, that she wasn't there and that "It wasn't me."

The pistol and a bloody woman's jacket were found in a trash can on in a second floor bathroom, Gray testified. The pistol had jammed, investigators determined. A second 15-round magazine was found in Bishop's bag left in the third floor meeting room, Gray said.

Under questioning from defense attorney Barry Abston, Gray said investigators did not find any written plans by Bishop about carrying out the shooting, but they have recovered computers that still need to be downloaded as part of the investigation.

District Attorney Rob Broussard said following the hearing that it could take some six months or so before the case would go before a grand jury. Bishop will remain in custody without bond.